300 THE FLORIST AND 



air, composed of vital gases, to penetrate through into the soil, and thus 

 the healthiest roots are always found in contact with the pot ; but in the 

 case of glazed pots, this percolation could not take place, and the surface 

 of the soil alone would be exposed in any degree to the action of the atmos- 

 phere ; consequently the plants would be deprived of a greater portion of 

 their nourishment. This would not be a matter of importance, provided 

 that the roots could extend themselves horizontally to their full extent, as 

 in that case a sufficiency of air would penetrate through the soil ; but it 

 must be recollected that the roots of plants in pots are not so circumstanced, 

 but, being checked by coming in contact with the pot, they are obliged to de- 

 scend, and, therefore, the whole surface of the pot becomes to them an 

 equivalent to the surface soil enjoyed by an unconfmed plant. Were it 

 possible to combine in a garden pot the transmission of air through its sides, 

 and yet to check the too rapid evaporation which sometimes takes place, 

 such a combination would be the ne plus ultra of pot manufacturing. 



Flor. Cab. 



OF THE DIRECT RELATION THAT EXISTS BETWEEN THE 

 CHARACTER OF THE SOIL AND THE KIND OF PLANTS 

 THAT NATURALLY GROW UPON IT. 



The importance of a minute study of the chemical composition of soils 

 will, perhaps, be most readily appreciated by a glance at the very different 

 kinds of vegetables which, under the same circumstances, different soils 

 naturally produce ; in other words, by a glance at their botanical relations. 



There are none so little skilled in regard to the capabilities of the soil, as 

 not to be aware that some lands naturally produce abundant herbage or rich 

 crops, while others refuse to yield a nourishing pasture, and are deaf to the 

 often-repeated solicitations of the diligent husbandman. There exists, 

 therefore, a universally understood connection between the kind of soil and 

 the kind of plants that naturally grow upon it. It is interesting to observe 

 how close this relation in many cases is. 



The sands of the sea-shore, the margins of salt lakes and the surfaces of 

 salt plains, like the Russian steppes, are distinguished by their peculiar 

 tribes of salt-loving plants — by varieties of salsola, salicornia, &c. The 

 Triticum junceum (sea wheat) grows on the seaward slopes of the downs at 

 no great distance from the sea. The drifted sands more removed from the 

 beach produce their own long, waving, coarser grass, — the Arundo arenaria, 

 (sea bent,) the Elymus arenarius, (sea lime grass,) and the Carex arenarius, 





